Reducing Duplicate Information When Reporting System Incidents

1. A method, in a data processing system, for reducing duplicate information when reporting data processing system incidents, the method comprising: receiving diagnostic data associated with a new incident that has occurred in the data processing system; creating at least one new incident dump file for the new incident that includes some or all of the diagnostic data; comparing the diagnostic data in the at least one new incident dump file to diagnostic data in at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; responsive to the at least one new incident dump file comprising diagnostic data that is different from the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, generating at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, wherein generating the at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the corresponding preceding incident dump file further compromises: generating at least one temporary comparison file that comprises the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; comparing a size of the at least one temporary comparison file to a size of the corresponding new incident dump file; responsive to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being less than the size of the corresponding new incident dump file, storing the at least one temporary comparison file as the at least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and responsive to the to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being greater than or equal to the size of the corresponding new incident clump file, storing the corresponding new incident dump file as the at least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and transmitting a report package to a support system, wherein the report package includes the at least one comparison dump file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one new incident dump file, the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, and the at least one comparison dump file are stored in an incident profile in a storage device in the data processing system.

3. The method of claim wherein, in creating the at least one new incident dump file, the method further comprises: updating the incident index to reflect the at least one new incident dump file.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein, in generating the at least one comparison dump file, the method further comprises: updating the incident index to reflect the at least one comparison dump file.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: after transmitting the report package to the support system, replicating a incident profile located in the storage device of the data processing system with a incident profile for the data processing system in a storage device of the support system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one comparison dump file is generated only if a date/time of the at least one new incident dump file differs from a date/time of the corresponding preceding incident dump file.

7. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to: receive diagnostic data associated with a new incident that has occurred in a data processing system; create at least one new incident dump file for the new incident that includes some or all of the diagnostic data; compare the diagnostic data in the at least one new incident dump file to diagnostic data in at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; responsive to the at least one new incident dump file comprising diagnostic data that is different from the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, generate at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, wherein the computer readable program to generate the at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the corresponding preceding incident dump file further causes the computing device to: generate at least one temporary comparison file that comprises the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; compare a size of the at least one temporary comparison file to a size of the corresponding new incident dump file; responsive to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being less than the size of the corresponding new incident dump file store the at least one temporary comparison file as the at least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and responsive to the to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being greater than or equal to the size of the corresponding new incident dump file, store the corresponding new incident dump file as the at least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and transmit a report package to a support system, wherein the report package includes the at least one comparison dump file.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the at least one new incident dump file, the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, and the at least one comparison dump file are stored in an incident profile in a storage device in the data processing system.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the computer readable program to create the at least one new incident dump tile further causes the computing device to: update the incident index to reflect the at least one new incident dump file.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the computer readable program to generate the at least one comparison dump file further causes to computing device to: update the incident index to reflect the at least one comparison dump file.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to: after transmitting the report package to the support system, replicate a incident profile located in the storage device of the data processing system with a incident profile for the data processing system in a storage device of the support system.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the at least one comparison dump file is generated only if a date/time of the at least one new incident dump tile differs from a date/time of the corresponding preceding incident dump file.

13. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive diagnostic data associated with a new incident that has occurred in a data processing system; create at least one new incident dump file for the new incident that includes some or all of the diagnostic data; compare the diagnostic data in the at least one new incident dump file to diagnostic data in at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; responsive to the at least one new incident dump file comprising diagnostic data that is different from the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, generate at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, wherein the instructions to generate the at least one comparison dump file that comprises only the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the corresponding preceding incident dump file further cause the processor to: generate at least one temporary comparison file that comprises the differences in the at least one new incident dump file that are not contained in the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file; compare a size of the at least one temporary comparison file to a size of the corresponding new incident dump file; responsive to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being less than the size of the corresponding new incident dump file, store the at least one temporary comparison file as the least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and responsive to the to the size of the at least one temporary comparison file being, greater than or equal to the size of the corresponding new incident dump file store the corresponding new incident dump file as the at least one comparison dump file in a storage device in the data processing system; and transmit a report package to a support system, wherein the report package includes the at least one comparison dump file.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one new incident dump file, the at least one corresponding preceding incident dump file, and the at least one comparison dump file are stored in an incident profile in a storage device in the data processing system.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the inst ructions to create the at least one new incident dump file further cause the processor to: update the incident index to reflect the at least one new incident dump file.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the instructions to generate the at least one comparison dump file further cause to processor to: update the incident index to reflect the at least one comparison dump file.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: after transmitting the report package to the support system, replicate a incident profile located in the storage device of the data processing system with a incident profile for the data processing system in a storage device of the support system.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one comparison dump file is generated only if a date/time of the at least one new incident dump file differs from a date/time of the corresponding preceding incident dump file.